Roku Takes Its Next Step With Audience Marketplace

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) is growing up more each quarter, and now the introduction of its Audience Marketplace will drive revenues further as advertising buyers and sellers can more effectively target audiences on the Roku platform. Roku’s press release indicated that publishers will be able to use the marketplace to sell targeted audiences on the Roku platform to advertisers.

Roku’s shares may not have screamed higher on the news, but this could be a big boost for Roku’s revenues over time. The company has millions of over-the-top streamers, and this effort will allow publishers and advertisers to precisely target specific segments at the household level. For instance, Roku claims to deliver 10.2% incremental reach over linear TV in the adults category between the ages of 18 and 34.

The initial spate of content providers and distributors includes rather large media companies: Fox, Turner and Viacom. Advertisers can take advantage of the Audience Marketplace through programmatic or traditional direct selling methods.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2018, Roku had nearly 21 million active accounts. Roku also claimed in prior releases that its users streamed more than 5 billion hours during the first quarter alone.

Roku shares were down more than 1% to $43.40 on Wednesday morning. Its 52-week trading range is $15.75 to $58.80, and the consensus analyst price target from Thomson Reuters is $41.70.